Category Archives: In The Kitchen

Healthy from scratch recipes and other kitchen tips!

Simple Coleslaw with a Lime Vinaigrette

| 2 Comments | AIP, Apps, Snacks & Sides, Beatty Protocols, Recipes

Simple Coleslaw with a Lime Vinaigrette | vegan, grain free, AIP | AmandaNaturally.comAs someone who never liked mayonnaise growing up, coleslaw was something that I avoided pretty passionately. I was even that weird kid who loved salads and veggies – but the mayo killed coleslaw for me. Then one day, a few years ago, I received a cabbage in our weekly veggie bin. So I hopped on the google, searched for “healthy coleslaw” and lo and behold, a vinaigrette version popped up! I made it and it was delicious. I was super jazzed to have a way of eating cabbage that I actually enjoyed.

So what’s the deal with cabbage anyway? Why am I so adamant about getting it into my diet? It’s because cabbage, along with other cruciferous veggies (kale, chard, collards, brussel sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy), are nutritional powerhouses. Here are some of their health benefits:

  • very high in the sulfurous compound, glucosinolate, which is metabolized by the body into potent antioxidants isothiocyanate and thiocyanate.
  • isothiocyanates have also been shown to be effective in protecting against cancer, specifically breast, colon, cervical and prostate.
  • help the body excrete excess estrogens (this is particularly helpful for someone coming off of birth control, or anyone who has estrogen dominance. Also a good idea for everyone, because many of the chemicals we are exposed to daily, from plastics to fragrances to pesticides, are xeno-estrogens, which means they mimic estrogen in our body) (additional source)
  • contains sulforaphane which may reduce hypertension and improve kidney function
  • packed with nutrients – vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, fibre
  • contains indole-3-carbinol which supports phase 2 liver detoxification, phase 1 is also supported via the sulforaphane content. This balance is important because many “liver supporters” only up regulate phase I. Phase 1 often turns chemicals into more toxic substrates, before phase 2 neutralizes them. Only supporting phase 1 liver detox can result in nasty symptoms. (Note: supporting phase 1 and 2 liver detoxification is real detox, not juice-cleansing, cayenne shooters, no protein “detox” – that’s a load of crap.)

Another reason for consuming cabbage is it’s inexpensive, it makes a large quantity and it’s on the Clean Fifteen list so it doesn’t need to be organic. Also, unlike regular salad, when you turn it into coleslaw, it gets better the longer it sits in the fridge!! This Simple Coleslaw with a Lime Vinaigrette is my go-to in the summer – for potlucks to BBQs to a simple lunch paired with a few hard boiled eggs on a hot day. There’s a lot of flexibility with the ingredients too!

NOTE: Having a food processor with a shredder attachment is incredibly useful for making slaw. However, you can chop the cabbage up old school with a knife!

Simple Coleslaw with a Lime Vinaigrette | vegan, grain free, AIP | AmandaNaturally.com

Simple Coleslaw with a Lime Vinaigrette
This simple summer salad is perfect for everything from a BBQ to a quick lunch on a hot day. Highly nutritious and budget-friendly too!
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Prep Time
10 min
Total Time
15 min
Prep Time
10 min
Total Time
15 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 head cabbage
  2. 1 bunch of hearty greens (broccoli, kale, collard greens)
  3. 1 bunch of green onions
  4. 1 bunch of cilantro
  5. ½ cup sunflower seeds, toasted**
Dressing
  1. juice of 2 limes
  2. ⅓ cup raw apple cider vinegar
  3. ⅓ cup olive oil
  4. sea salt
  5. black pepper**
Instructions
  1. Using the shredder attachment on your food processor, shred cabbage. Dump in a bowl.
  2. Shred broccoli or finely chop kale/collards. Add to the bowl.
  3. Chop green onions and cilantro. Add to the bowl along with toasted sunflower seeds.
  4. Combine dressing ingredients, whisk well and toss with coleslaw.
  5. Let sit for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
  1. **AIP Modifications: omit black pepper, substitute shredded coconut for sunflower seeds
  2. This coleslaw gets better as it sits! So let it sit for a few hours or overnight before serving!
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/
Simple Coleslaw with a Lime Vinaigrette | vegan, grain free, AIP | AmandaNaturally.com

 

 

 

Fried Plantains

| 2 Comments | AIP, Apps, Snacks & Sides, Beatty Protocols, Breakfasts, Kitchen Tutorials, Recipes

Oh plantains – how I love thee!Fried Plantains | vegan, paleo, AIP | AmandaNaturally.com

Seriously guys, plantains are the best! Here’s why:

  1. They are incredibly versatile and can be used to make everything from biscuits and pancakes, to tortillas and nachos. Green plantains are savoury and a great alternative to potatoes. Ripe plantains (yellow, or yellow with brown spots) are super sweet and great for making batters.
  2. They last forever in your kitchen (well as long as you don’t eat them) because you can use them at all stages of their ripeness. Seriously, we’re talking weeks before they go bad!
  3. They cook up very quickly. Most people who have switched over to a real-food diet will agree with me when I say whole-food starches take a long time to prep! Sweet potatoes and squash take almost an hour in the oven, and sometimes (ok most times) I don’t have that kind of time! Fried plantains, as you’ll see in the recipe below, take 10 minutes.
  4. They are a very neutral starch, so unless you have a banana allergy, they are usually safe for most people.
  5. They are very nutrient dense (as opposed to grains and flours) and are full of the good kind of starch that feeds your beneficial gut bacteria.
  6. They are a great chip alternative, and while you can make your own, I highly suggest purchasing Inka Plantain Chips. (tip to all my Canadians out there – you can buy the Inka green plantain chips at Dollarama!!)
  7. They’re freakin’ delicious!

They do have one major downside – they’re definitely not local to where I live. So not only can that make them challenging to locate (note: Asian markets and ethnic grocery stores always have them), but it also means they have a high environmental footprint. I try to eat mostly local and seasonal – meat from local farmers, vegetables from a local CSA – but plantains, bananas and coconut are the one exception. Driving a Prius makes me feel a bit better about that!

Plantains can be a little intimidating the first time you make them, so my goal with this post is to show you how simple they are. This recipe is for fried green plantains, also called tostones or patacones, depending on where you’re from! These guys are reminiscent of a french fry or potato wedge. You can follow the exact same recipe for ripe plantains, but you won’t need to smash them halfway. Also they’ll be very sweet. Which ripeness you choose to fry up depends on the meal you’re preparing, your personal preference and if you have any plantains left that were allowed to ripen! 

Fried Plantains (a.k.a. Tostones)

1. Slice off the ends of your plantain and cut into 3 or 4 chunks, to make the next steps easier. 

 2. Score the skin of the plantain, being careful not to cut the flesh. Use your knife edge or fingernails to peel off the skin. It’s a lot tougher than a banana, but the flesh isn’t as delicate so no need to worry about bruising the plantain! 

3. Once the skin is removed, slice the plantains into about 1-2 cm discs. 

4. Heat a decent amount of fat in a frying pan over medium. I love using coconut oil for frying plantains because it really compliments the flavour of the plantain, but you can use any saturated fat (ghee, lard, bacon grease, tallow). You want the melted fat to be a few millimetres deep and covering the entire pan. 

5. Place the plantains in the hot oil and cook for 3-4 minutes. You will notice the bottom turning golden brown. Keep the burner at medium or less, you want the whole bottom half of the plantain to cook through as it turns golden brown. If they are cooking too fast, turn down the heat.

 6. Flip the plantains and cook another 3-4 minutes on the other side. 

7. Once they’re golden on both sides and cooked through (you shouldn’t see any raw plantain in the middle), remove a few at a time and smash them! Take a chef’s knife or a glass cup and gently and evenly press down on the plantain disc until it flattens.

 

 

 

8. As you smash the plantains, return them to the frying pan and continue until they’re all flat. Fry for 1-2 more minutes on each side, adding extra oil if you need.

9. Season liberally with sea salt and serve! 

 

Foods to Eat Fried Plantains With:

  • eggs and bacon, in lieu of hashbrowns
  • burgers, in lieu of french fries
  • tacos
  • pulled pork
  • beef carnitas
  • whipped coconut cream, cinnamon and berries (using ripe plantains)
  • pretty much anything because they rock.

 

So tell me, what’s your favourite way to use plantains? 

Never used them before? Give it a go and report back!

 

Fried Plantains
A simple, nourishing starch free that cooks up in only 10 minutes and is sure to please the whole family!
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Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
10 min
Total Time
15 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
10 min
Total Time
15 min
Ingredients
  1. Green plantains
  2. Fat (I prefer coconut oil because it really compliments the flavour of the plantain, but you can use any saturated fat - lard, bacon grease, tallow, ghee)
  3. Sea salt
Instructions
  1. 1. Slice the ends off of the plantain, and cut into 3 or 4 chunks.
  2. 2. Score the skin of the plantain, being careful not to cut the flesh. Use your knife edge or fingernails to peel off the skin.
  3. 3. Slice the plantains into about 1-2 cm discs.
  4. 4. Heat a liberal amount of fat in a frying pan over medium. Melted fat should be a few millimetres deep and covering the entire pan.
  5. 5. Place the plantains in the hot oil and cook for 3-4 minutes, until the bottom turns golden brown.
  6. 6. Flip the plantains and cook another 3-4 minutes on the other side.
  7. 7. Once they're golden on both sides and cooked through (no raw plantain in the middle), remove a few at a time and smash them! Take a chef's knife or a glass cup and gently and evenly press down on the plantain disc until it flattens.
  8. 8. As you smash the plantains, return them to the frying pan and continue until they're all flat. Fry for 1-2 more minutes on each side, adding extra oil if you need.
  9. 9. Season liberally with sea salt and serve!
Notes
  1. If you are using ripe plantains (which are just as awesome, but quite sweet), you do not need to smash them. Simply cook until golden brown on the first side, flip and cook to golden on the second side. Season with sea salt and serve!
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/

Braised Beef Shanks

| 0 Comments | AIP, Beatty Protocols, Recipes

Braised Beef Shanks | paleo, AIP | AmandaNaturally.comBuying real meat, from happy healthy animals, is really important to me and it is something that we encourage clients to move towards. “Happy healthy animals” have been allowed to graze on pasture, eat the food they’re meat to eat (cattle = grass, poultry and pork = grass, bugs, weeds, scraps etc), are free of unnecessary antibiotics, free from hormones and other drugs used to fatten them up, and allowed to “express their pig-ness or cow-ness” as Joel Salatin from Polyface Farms would say.

From an ethical standpoint, it’s a no-brainer. Animals should be treated with respect throughout their entire lives, including the way it is ended. They should not be raised in factories. It is a despicable practice.

From an environmental standpoint, it’s also a no-brainer. Diana Rodgers explains it beautifully in her book The Homegrown Paleo, which I’ll summarize quickly here.

  1. In a healthy, sustainable farm, herbivore animals require very little inputs in terms of water, chemicals, heavy machinery, fertilizers, pesticides etc.
  2. Pasture animals are integral because they thrive on areas of land that cannot be used for vegetable (or grain) production.
  3. It’s not possible to have a healthy vegetable farm, without any contribution from animals. Decomposing animal parts (all parts!) are critical for returning life-giving nutrients like bacteria, calcium and nitrogen to the earth.

From a nutritional perspective, grass-fed and pastured meat blows conventional meat out of the water (side note: why is inhumane, factory farming called “conventional” and natural, traditional way of farming forced to have another name??). It is more nutrient-dense (ie. contains more vitamin and minerals per calorie) and the fat profile of the animal become incredibly healthy! The fat shifts from inflammatory (high in omega-6’s) and full of the junk the animal was exposed to during its life, to anti-inflammatory (higher in omega-3’s) and full of fat-soluble vitamins such as Vitamin A and D.

This is all fine and dandy, except for 2 things. Finding grass-fed/pastured meat can be challenging and when you do, it is often substantially more expensive. One of the best ways to reduce the cost of real meat is to buy an entire cow/pig. Go in with your family or a few friends and purchase a half a cow, or a whole hog. It does require an investment up front, but you will end up saving big time in the long run.

If this is not an option for you, then my biggest piece of advice is to get familiar with the cheaper cuts of meat. When I order from our butcher, these cuts make up the majority of my order:

  • medium ground beef
  • ground pork
  • pork sausages
  • breakfast sausages
  • chicken thighs
  • chicken drums
  • beef brisket
  • pork shoulder
  • chicken livers
  • beef heart
  • chicken feet
  • and….BEEF SHANKS!

Beef shanks are one of my favourite cuts of beef – in fact, any recipe that calls for stewing beef, I use beef shanks instead now. The shank is a cross section of the leg of an animal. It is really high in connective tissue (read about the amazing health benefits here) and it is on the bone, so it is a perfect cut for cooking low and slow. Braising, stewing and slow-cooking are the way to go with these bad boys. And the longer the better!

Braised Beef Shanks

Ingredients

  • Beef shanks
  • Sea salt (black pepper optional)
  • Cooking fat (tallow, lard, bacon grease, butter, ghee, coconut oil)
  • 2-3 onions, diced
  • garlic cloves, diced
  • bone broth
  • bay leaf

Directions

Bring beef shanks to room temperature, by letting them sit on the counter for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Season the shanks with sea salt, and if desired, black pepper. 

In a large pan over medium high heat, add fat sear the beef shanks until they are beautifully browned on both sides. TIP: let the meat brown for a minimum of 3 minutes before checking it! 

Meanwhile, dice some onions.

When your beef has been seared, place it in a dutch oven or casserole dish. 

Immediately sauté the onions in the pan you just seared the beef in. If you need to, add some more fat. When the onions are translucent, approximately 5-7 minutes, spoon them on top of the beef shanks.

Add garlic (if you like garlic, use a whole head!), bay leaf and enough broth to come about ¾ of the way up the sides of the beef.

Cover and cook for a minimum of 2 hours, ideally 3 or more.

Serve with sautéed greens and plantain biscuits for sopping up the yummy broth and onions!

Notes

This can also be done in a slow cooker! Follow the same steps and place in your slow cooker for 8-12 hours.

This is my super basic recipe for braising beef shanks. Please get creative with this recipe! Add red wine instead of broth, or jack up the spices to create your own spin! But when in doubt, keep it simple and let the quality of the meat speak for itself! Enjoy!

 

Braised Beef Shanks
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Save Recipe
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Prep Time
10 min
Total Time
2 hr
Prep Time
10 min
Total Time
2 hr
Ingredients
  1. beef shanks
  2. sea salt (black pepper optional)
  3. 1-2 tbsp cooking fat (tallow, lard, bacon grease, butter, ghee, coconut oil)
  4. 2-3 onions, diced
  5. garlic cloves, diced
  6. bone broth
  7. bay leaf
Instructions
  1. Bring beef shanks to room temperature, by letting them sit on the counter for 20-30 minutes.
  2. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  3. Season the shanks with sea salt, and if desired, black pepper.
  4. In a large pan over medium high heat, add fat sear the beef shanks until they are beautifully browned on both sides. Make sure to let the meat brown for a minimum of 3 minutes before checking it!
  5. Meanwhile, dice some onions.
  6. When your beef has been seared, place it in a dutch oven or casserole dish.
  7. Sauté the onions in the pan you just seared the beef in. If you need to, add some more fat.
  8. When the onions are translucent, approximately 5-7 minutes, spoon them on top of the beef shanks.
  9. Add garlic (if you like garlic, use a whole head!), bay leaf and enough broth to the dish to come about ¾ of the way up the sides of the beef.
  10. Cover and cook for a minimum of 2 hours, ideally 3 or more.
Notes
  1. This can also be done in a slow cooker! Follow the same steps and place in your slow cooker for 8-12 hours.
  2. This is my super basic recipe for braising beef shanks. Please get creative with this recipe! Add red wine instead of broth, or jack up the spices to create your own spin!
Amanda Naturally http://www.amandanaturally.com/
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